September 1, 1919.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



Activities of The Rubber Association of America. 



THE ACTIVITIES OF The Rubber ASSOCIATION Were necessarily 

 curtailed to come extent during the month of August be- 

 cause of the general midsummer dullness and vacations, 

 resulting in difficulty to secure representation for the meetings. 



ASSOCIATION HAS FREIGHT RATE EXPERT. 



R. H. Goebel, who has had many years' service with joint 

 freight rate and tarifif organizations of the railroads, particularly 

 in the East, has been secured by the Association as a freight rate 

 expert. The Association will now be in a position to render 

 assistance of an executive nature to its members in connection 

 with freight traffic problems. These primarily relate to changes 

 in rates and classifications involving maintenance of rate levels, 

 and rate advices to members who have not felt justified in build- 

 ing up their own traffic organizations. This work may include 

 analysis of rate conditions with respect to sales distribution and 

 general information regarding tralific or transportation details. 



DOCKETS FOR ALL DIVISION AND OTHER GENERAL MEETINGS. 



A plan which was found to be very practicable and conducive 

 to a more businesslike procedure in the meetings of the Traffic 

 Division will be put in operation at future meetings of divisions 

 of the Association. 



It consists in the preparation of an informal typewritten docket 

 of subjects requiring the attention of division meetings, covering 

 as briefly as possible a statement of the matter involved. This 

 plan makes it possible to conduct the meeting in a more orderly 

 manner and enables members to take with them or have sent to 

 them by the secretary after the meeting this summarized record 

 of the subjects considered, which will be supplemental to the 

 regular minutes that are mailed from the association office. 



Furthermore, it will be of assistance to the association office in 

 its endeavor to become of greater value to the industry by 

 keeping closely in touch with the subjects in which the several 

 divisions are interested. 



To make this arrangement useful it is necessary that the asso- 

 ciation office be advised, prior to any meeting, of the subjects 

 which members desire to have brought before the meeting for 

 discussion, but it is not contemplated that only matters which are 

 included in the informal docket will be given consideration 

 because there will always be opportunity for the presentation of 

 any matter of interest at the time of the meeting. 



.A meeting of the Specification Committee of the old War 

 Service Committee, of which Dr. Geer is chairman and N. S. 

 Noble, Secretary, was held at the offices of The B. F. Goodrich 

 Co. on August 8. Preliminary steps were taken toward organiz- 

 ing the Specification Committee as a permanent branch of the 

 association in order to put it on a more substantial footing, as 

 it was felt that there was a real field for the work it might do. 



Positive action was taken with respect to the working out by 

 the Specification Committee with the United States Railroad 

 Administration and other departments of the Federal Government 

 of standard specifications for certain items in the mechanical 

 goods line. 



"CLEARSKIN" RUBBER SPONGES. 



Following the usual procedure which makes the office of the 

 Rubber Association the medium for disseminating advice of this 

 sort. The Miller Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, has announced that 

 it has registered at Washington the coined word "Clearskin," 

 to be applied to rubber sponges of their manufacture. 



ASSOCIATION'S TWENTIETH YEAR BOOK. 



Work on the Association's Twentieth Year-Book is progress- 

 ing as rapidly as possible. The publication is already long over- 

 due as a result of a change in organization and other circum- 

 stances which could not be controlled. 

 ARBITRATIONS. 



Only one arbitration proceeding was conducted during August, 

 and that involved alleged non-fulfillment of contract conditions 

 in respect to a specified time delivery. The arbitrators' award 

 was in favor of the seller of the crude rubber and to the effect 

 that the terms of the contract had been complied with. 

 MEETING OF RUBBER CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' DIVISION. 



A call has been issued for a meeting of the Rubber Clothing 

 Manufacturers' Division at the Yale Club, New York City, 

 September 4. The feeling is evident that the present state of 

 affairs in the trade makes it desirable that the general situation 

 be reviewed and an interesting meeting is looked for. 

 MEETING OF RUBBER RECLAIMERS' DIVISION. 



An endeavor is being made by the officers of the Rubber Re- 

 claimers' Division to arrange for a day's outing in connection 

 with the next meeting of that division, which is contemplated for 

 Tuesday, September 9. The proposal is to spend the day at 

 one of the prominent Long Island Clubs, w^here the meeting 

 might be held in the morning, upon arrival, and the remainder 

 of the day spent at golf, tennis, bathing, etc.. for which the 

 facilities of the club are unusually fine. If, however, the outing 

 idea is found to be impracticable, the meeting will be held Sep- 

 tember 9, at the Yale Club, New York City. .A general discus- 

 sion of trade conditions is contemplated. 



MEETING OF PNEUMATIC TIRE MANUFACTURERS' DIVISION. 



There is in contemplation a meeting of the Pneumatic Tire 

 Manufacturers' Division to be held about the middle of Septem- 

 ber, but it is not yet possible to decide upon the date. There 

 are an unusual number of important subjects involving trade 

 principles and practices which will come before the division for 

 consideration and the meeting w^ill doubtless be an interesting one. 



FEDERAL EXCISE TAX. RECENT RULINGS BY THE TREASURY 

 DEPARTMENT. 



New York. July 26, 1919. 

 To the firm members of the Rubber Association of Ameriea: 



The following rulings have just been released by the Treas- 

 ury Department: 



TEEASURY DECISION NO. 2893. APPROVED JULY 17, 1919. 



< J) Articles toNsiGNED to Retailer— The last sentence of Article 

 8 ol Kegulations 4/ is hereby amended to read as follows: 



Where a manufacturer consigns articles to a retailer, retaining owner- 

 ship in them until they are disposed of by the ret.iiler, the manufacturer 

 must pay the tax upon the basis of the manufacturer's selling: price 

 on all goods sold to the retailer, as shown by reports to be procured 

 by him monthly from the ret.iiler. 



(2) Tires, inner tubes, part or accessories: Article 14 of Regulations 

 47 is supplemented by adding thereto the following: 



The words "tires, inner tubes, parts, or accessories" shall be under- 

 stood to embrace only such tires, inner tubes, parts, or accessories as 

 hove reached such a staee of manufacture that they constitute articles 

 commonly or commercially known as "tires, inner tubes, parts, or ac- 

 cessories," and shall not be understood to embrace raw materials used 

 in the manufacture of such articles. Unvulcanizcd sheet rubber, liquid 

 vuicaniziiig, rubber cement, and friction fabrics are considered to be 

 laiv materials nnd are exempt from tax. 



(4) Pakts of Accessories — Article 16 Regu 

 by adding thereto the following: 



Parts or accessories for automobile truck*:, 

 automobiles, or motorcycles primarily adaiiini 

 ncclion therewith when sold for ariy cili- 

 provided the purchaser files with his or.l. : 

 or accessories are to be used on or in i. 

 oi commerce not enumerated in or intlui. .i 

 <i), of -Section 900. For example, a mIis 



for use on an automobile, if .sold to a nianufacturtr of motor 

 Mitii nianufaciurer stating in his order that it is to be used 

 ni.i'ii-,fatture :f a motor boat and not upon an automobile, 



